Biden’s Pentagon misses the target again

Robert Wilkie Robert Wilkie 

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On Oct. 27, the Biden administration released the public version of the National Defense Strategy (NDS). To start, the document uses faculty lounge aphorisms, such as referring to China — our greatest national security threat — as a “pacing threat.” A “pacing threat” implies no sense of urgency and is silent about the number and shape of American forces required to deter Beijing, Tehran and Moscow.

The National Defense Strategy is an illuminating subchapter of the Biden National Security Strategy (NSS). The NSS tells us what we presumed: This administration considers climate change — not China, Russia, North Korea or Iran — to be the greatest threat facing the American people. It mentions climate change 63 times, far more space than is allocated for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The Biden team prioritizes dialogue for its own sake and, in its own words, places cooperating with international bodies and the PRC above preparation for countering threats from a Leninist superstate. Indeed, as National Review notes, talk of military modernization and strategy “is cursory by comparison with the sections on the climate.”

The 20th century’s lessons of deterrence, hard diplomacy and military strength have been lost in a haze of woke multilateralism and what Mark Helprin calls “performative diplomacy.” How else can one explain the Biden administration’s obsession with reviving the 2015 nuclear deal at a time when the theocratic fanatics in Iran are gunning down their own people amid historic protests that Tehran views as a mere speed bump on its road to Persian hegemony at the crossroads of three continents?

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin prefaced his NDS remarks by mentioning current Russian aggression and Chinese military ambition. He noted that the administration is “clear-eyed about serious threats.” He then contradicted himself by noting that the Pentagon is focused on achieving a military renaissance not until 2030 despite the clear and present threat right now. Moreover, it is difficult to see how even this delayed renaissance will occur. His rose-colored spin is belied by the anemic defense budgets the Pentagon has offered Congress on the Biden administration’s watch, indicating to the world that it is not serious about the threats the secretary says we face.